Investigation of p-Type Silicon Heterojunction Radiation Hardness

The space sector is facing significant upheavals, in particular, in terms of cost reduction challenges, driven by the emergence of low Earth orbit constellations. Concerning solar power generation, it opens up perspectives for alternative solar photovoltaics technologies, instead of the highly perfo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE journal of photovoltaics Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 41 - 45
Main Authors Cariou, Romain, Danel, Adrien, Enjalbert, Nicolas, Jay, Frederic, Dubois, Sebastien
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Piscataway IEEE 01.01.2024
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
SeriesIEEE journal of photovoltaics
Subjects
Condensed Matter
Costs
Electron beams
Electrons
End of life
heterojunction
Heterojunctions
Low earth orbits
Materials Science
Performance evaluation
Photovoltaic cells
Physics
Radiation
radiation hardening
Radiation hardening (electronics)
Room temperature
Silicon
Solar cells
Solar power generation
space photovoltaics
Substrates
Thickness
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Summary:The space sector is facing significant upheavals, in particular, in terms of cost reduction challenges, driven by the emergence of low Earth orbit constellations. Concerning solar power generation, it opens up perspectives for alternative solar photovoltaics technologies, instead of the highly performant and expensive III-V multijunction devices. Crystalline silicon solar cells, which have fueled initial space developments, spark a renewed interest, thanks to their industrial maturity, high efficiencies on p-type substrates, and costs of two to three orders of magnitude lower than those of III-V. In this context, we present here the results of electrons radiation hardness studies on p-type (Ga-doped) silicon heterojunction solar cells. Devices with thicknesses down to 60 μm are manufactured and then characterized before and after 1MeV electrons irradiations. The best ultra-thin heterojunction cell shows an end-of-life (1.5 × 10 14 e/cm 2 ) externally certified efficiency of 15.9% under AM1.5G at room temperature; this translates into ∼ 14.3% with AM0 spectrum. The benefits of thickness reduction with respect to radiation hardness are presented, and the cells' improvement pathways discussed.
ISSN:2156-3381
2156-3403
DOI:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2023.3333197